Oracles Of Ash

This will be the 3rd time that the Texas based, moody synth project Funeral Parlor has been featured on the blog. A curious one-man project created by head funeral director Josh Doughty. This is not the kind of music that I normally listen to, but I've always enjoyed revisiting Funeral Parlor and checking in. And Josh was so kind enough to send me a couple tapes of his respective projects for me to check out. If you're reading Josh I'm sorry it took a while. This tape is a split between Funeral Parlor and Nihilarch. Released on Perfect Hue and limited to 25.

Funeral Parlor always reminded me of music that would fit into the soundtrack of Twin Peaks. And no that isn't a diss. We get two tracks per side, Funeral Parlor still sounding as dreary and droning as ever before. Each track really has time to build here, each one going over the 6 minute mark. Plenty of time to let the über saddness stain your ears.  "Believe" opens up with a sample that sounds like it was taken from a Harrison Ford movie. The bleak tone is set straight away, and very soon the minor key synth chords come out. Staying consistent in it's 4everbummer mood, the synths drone on and on adding layers very sporadically, nothing harsh though. The next track "Tourist" opens with a surprisingly industrial, machine work sample that stays active throughout this tracks run time. For how minimal everything is it's actually pretty captivating. Good music to bury a body too.

On the flip side we get two tracks from yet another synth-centric project, Nihilarch. A one man show out of California I was unaware with until this split. Upon a few listens I can definitely find a lot of stuff to like in these two songs. Lots of Prurient adoration on here, and I wouldn't be surprised if dude had a few John Carpenter or Goblin soundtracks in his possession.  The opening track "Sanctuary" takes it's sweet time building up, stacking synth riffs and bass tones (minor key or bust). Waiting until the last minute to unleash screamed distorted vocals in a surprising twist into power electronics. The next track "Oracles Of Ash" is the real star of this whole split. I love the classic horror movie sountrack synth arpeggios that float all over this track. And the fantastic distorted rumbles that boom when the vocals take a step back. Sounds like something mad decent that would come off the Hospital Records catalog. I'd say this was the perfect way to close things off.

I somehow managed to get #1/25. Thank you Josh!! Standard 1-sided J card packaging. Sealed with a sticker. 

Pick this tape up HERE

~VII

The Leader Of The Fucking Assholes

Mr. Waves Crashing Piano Chords has been treating me very well lately. Very graciously and generously hooking me up with several exclusive editions of his latest releases. All of which I aim to post reviews about in the coming weeks, starting out with the most recent piece of output. A 5-way split flexi disc 7" with Ad Nauseum, Contraktor, MPHIAT, and Funeral Parlor. This is the black flexi edition out of 150 copies, 33 RPM.

I've known about of most of these artist's prior to this record (Funeral Parlor of course being on a previous WCPC split). A smattering of mostly unknown artists that have all been kicking it for a couple years. This split actually has a good amount of variety of styles included throughout, but all are still basically rooted in power electronics. I got to say though, given how short the amount of time all these projects are given, each one does a pretty decent job with what they have. 

Ad Nauseum's track has an excellent eerie and shrieking instrumental. Very inspired by the sounds of early Ramleh and Grunt, but with a modern vocal style. Going even rawer, WCPC gives a grindcore length microsong of his singular vocal and microphone feedback delivery. It's Waves doing Waves, it love-punches my ears still. MPHIAT and Contraktor surprised me with their tracks honestly. MPHIAT doing an absurdly high pitched, throat trashing scream over an overblown, rythmic instrumental. It's super loud and fucked up. And Contraktor close it off with probably my favorite track on the disc. Starting off with a crushing wall of distortion, slowly morphing into more feedback and vocals. It's fucking nuts, and a wonderful switch from his usual death industrial focused recordings. Funeral Parlor honestly should have closed this off though, and unfortunately he's the one who suffers from the time length the most. "Nostalgia" only consists of a simple minor-key synth riff, and while it certainly does a good job setting the tone and atmosphere it's going for, it's just too short. This more "funeral" style of keyboard work definitely requires an 8-10 minute time length to feel justified, I think. But this still would have been an excellent closer. 

For a flexi disc this is actually a pretty sturdy record. It's actually got some weight and thickness to it, which I was very surprised and delighted by. Maybe I can get more then 4 plays out of it before it starts sounding like garbage! Making up for the lack of cover art, each artist gets a small vinyl sticker that is considered packaging. If you wanna keep this baby mint, don't put those stickers anywhere, nerds. 

Pick this record up over HERE.

~VII

I Hope I Get AIDS

The 2nd Waves Crashing Piano Chords 7" I picked up was this split with Funeral Parlor, from Texas. A curious pairing of two acts, performing very different styles of noise music. Black vinyl, limited to 64 copies, 33 RPM.

Waves is up first with yet another live documentation, again comprising of two pieces. Starting right off with sharp, metallic feedback, and a completely painful slow, piercing drone, going into "I Hope I Get AIDS". A staple of the WCPC live performance. It's a solid, active, clanging rendition of this hit song. I do like how this recording shows off some more nerdy things like "dynamics" and "arcs" in his set. "...Or Is It Me" is a slow, sorta atmospheric track of sleazy fantasy. There's overall a lot more slow parts on this recording, but with basically the same amount of intensity. No applause at the end too.

Funeral Parlor is a one-man harsh drone/noise act, who gives us the track "Sway Away". I was unfamiliar with this artist before grabbing this record, and it's honestly definitely not the kind of noise I go to for casual listening. A mid heavy, static feedback wall with a sad, repetitive, minor key synth riff over it comprises basically this whole track. It's the audio equivalent of a graveyard during a heavy downpour, nothing but grey sky's and black trees. Kind of reminds me of what Prurient was doing for the "Cocaine Death" affiliated tapes, but with that extra bit of pure aggressiveness I look for. Some vocals might have helped I suppose. A harsh wall closes out the track giving it a little more variation, but I wasn't sold. I can see creepy bedroom lurkers liking it.

Great silkscreened sleeve again, with fantastic photos. Out of the total 105 run of this record, 64 were on black. And I'm sure it is now sold out.

~VII